COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION. 289 
valueless for an herbarium, they are not only very ornamental, 
but useful, if space can be devoted to them. 
Leaf parasites, whether on living or dead leaves, may be dried 
in the usual way for drying plants, between folds of bibulous paper 
under pressure. It may be sometimes necessary with dead leaves 
to throw them in water, in order that they may be flattened with- 
out breaking, and then dry them in the same manuer as green 
leaves. All species produced on a hard matrix, as wood, bark, 
etc., should have as much as possible of the matrix pared away, 
so that the specimens may lie flat in the herbarium. This is 
often facilitated in corticolous species by removing the bark and 
drying it under pressure. 
The dusty Gasteromycetes are troublesome, especially the 
minute species, and if mounted openly on paper are soon spoiled. 
A good plan is to provide small square or round cardboard 
boxes, of not more than a quarter of an inch in depth, and 
to glue the specimen to the bottom at once, allowing it to 
dry in that position before replacing the cover. The same 
method should be adopted for many of the moulds, such as 
Polyactis, etc., which, under any circumstances, are difficult to 
preserve. 
In collecting moulds, we have found it an excellent plan to 
go out provided with small wooden boxes, corked at top and 
bottom, such as entomologists use, and some common pins. 
When a delicate mould is collected on a decayed Agaric, or any 
other matrix, after clearing away with a penknife all unnecessary 
portions of the matrix, the specimen may be pinned down to the 
cork in one of these boxes. Another method, and one advisable 
also for the Alysxogastres, is to carry two or three pill-boxes, in 
which, after being wrapped in tissue paper, the specimen may 
be placed. 
A great difficulty 1s often experienced with microscopic fungi, 
such, for instance, as the Spheriacei, in the necessity, whenever 
a new examination is required, to soak the specimen for some 
hours, and then transfér the fruit to a slide, before it can be 
compared with any newly-found specimen that has to be identi- 
fied. To avoid this, mounted specimens ready for the microscope 
